USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then β I must report this calmly β the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we�"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished β an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
3 deck mixing is fun when it all comes together & this was one of them. Using Sub Sub - Ain't No Love with
Ralphi Rosario - You Used To Hold Me (acapella) into Mace - Jungle feat. Sofi de la Torre (Plump DJs vocal mix)
A traffic stop can look routine, but there's no such thing for the officer walking up to that window. They never truly know who or what they're facing, or how desperate someone might be. That kind of uncertainty takes grit. It's why I back the blue-because they step into harm's way every single day so the rest of us can make it home safe. π
I want to thank @crimefix000 for sharing this with me
Part 2 in comments βοΈ